SCORES
Updated: Monday April 20, 1998 2:46PM EST
Sunday April 19, 1998 Toronto at Vancouver
Score: Toronto 2 Vancouver 1
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) _ The Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, two teams out of NHL playoff picture, wrapped up their respective seasons looking ahead at uncertain futures.
For the Maple Leafs, it's a question of whether to stay the course on their youth-laden rebuilding program that earned them 69 points this season, one more than last year.
For the Canucks, their big question revolves around scoring star Pavel Bure, who continues to refuse to answer questions of whether he wants to come back for the final year of his five-year contract.
Bure was evasive after scoring his team-leading 51st goal in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Maple Leafs.
``One day maybe I'll say something, but right now I can't tell you nothing,'' said Bure, who said he plans to travel to Moscow in the near future.
Asked if there was a chance that he might be back in a Canucks uniform, he said, ``At the present time I have no comment.''
Said Canucks coach Mike Keenan, when asked of Bure's status: ``Well, Pavel's under contract with the Vancouver Canucks. I have no idea where all the speculation has come from. ... I think in fairness to Pavel and in fairness to the organization, he should be given time to digest what has transpired, where he wants to go from this point in his career, where he's been.
``I hope that he finds good reason to stay here in Vancouver, but those things will be assessed by everyone, most importantly Pavel.''
Keenan, who took over the club following Tom Renney's dismissal last November, missed the playoffs for the first time in his 12-year coaching career.
He said it didn't matter because he saw progress in his team's development over the past 60 days.
``I think if we had more time, we would've made the playoffs,'' said Keenan, who compiled a 21-30-12 record behind the Canucks bench. ``We're on the right track and we could've pressed for it legitimately.
``I just feel badly that this group of players didn't have a chance to find that opportunity because of the time frame we were all up against.''
The Canucks (25-43-14) wrapped up their worst season in eight years with a four-game winless streak (0-3-1), winding up last in the Western Conference standings. The 1989-90 Canucks also finished with 64 points over an 80-game schedule.
The loss also marked Vancouver's 22nd defeat at home, a franchise high, breaking the previous mark of 21 set twice, most recently in 1984-85.
The Maple Leafs' victory earned them sole possession of 10th place in the West.
Looking at the bigger picture, as Toronto missed the playoffs for the second-straight year, coach Mike Murphy wasn't happy.
``You don't take much out of it when you don't make the playoffs,'' Murphy said. ``The fact that we accumulated a little more points than a year ago, that's about all you can take out of it.''
Rookie Daniil Markov and Steve Sullivan scored second-period goals 75 seconds apart for the Maple Leafs.
Bure's goal, coming on the power play, rounded out the scoring midway through the third.
Bure, who had consecutive 60-goal seasons in 1993 and 1994, moved into a tie for second with Philadelphia's John LeClair among NHL goal-scorers behind Anaheim's Teemu Selanne (52).
The Canucks managed just seven shots on net in the first 40 minutes before coming out of their shell to fire 11 shots in the final period.
Vancouver had the potential game-tying goal waved off with 2:50 left when referee Brad Watson ruled that Donald Brashear had poked the puck into the net from under Glenn Healy's pads after the whistle had blown.
Saturday April 18, 1998 Toronto at Edmonton
Score: Edmonton 4 Toronto 3
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- After failing to beat the Colorado Avalanche in last year's playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers will get a shot at redeeming themselves.
The Oilers locked up seventh place in the Western Conference -- and a showdown with the Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs -- with a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Todd Marchant, Dean McAmmond and Greg de Vries each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who enter the playoffs riding a four-game winning streak. Mats Lindgren had Edmonton's other goal.
Kris King, Igor Korolev and Derek King scored for the Maple Leafs, who will miss the playoffs.
Colorado, which eliminated Edmonton in five games last spring, will again be a tough hurdle for the Oilers, but it's a challenge they are looking forward to.
"We always seem to play better against Dallas, but I don't think it matters right now the way this team is playing," Marchant said. "It was a battle tonight, but we won and that's all that matters. And that's all that's going to matter Wednesday when we go into Colorado."
The Stars finished first in the West and will play San Jose in the first round.
Last season, Edmonton upset Dallas in seven games before falling to the Avalanche in the second round of the playoffs.
"Last year was a blast in the playoffs," said de Vries, who scored his seventh goal of the season in his first game back after missing four straight.
"We just learned what it's like to be in the playoffs so we're looking forward to next week. After the first couple games, we played them (Colorado) hard and were right in the series. If we do that again this year, we're going to play really well."
Oilers coach Ron Low didn't like much of what he saw in the win over the Leafs. His club was guilty of several giveaways and some dreadful defensive play in the first two periods, but mistakes were to be expected with nothing more than playoff positioning at stake.
Low was cautious in evaluating his team's chances against Colorado.
"It depends on how smart we play," said Low, whose team has won eight of its last 11 games, including five straight at home.
"If we play smart enough, we'll make it tough on them. The way it's going right now, I don't think we match up poorly. Obviously they've got 95 points and they're where they're at for a reason. Nothing will be easy, but we're just happy to be in the series."
Wednesday April 15, 1998 Chicago at Toronto
Score: Toronto 3 Chicago 2
TORONTO (AP) _ The Chicago Blackhawks' string of 28 straight playoff appearances _ longest current streak in the NHL _ was in jeopardy Wednesday night following a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Chicago (30-38-12) trailed San Jose by three points and Edmonton by four points for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference going into the game.
The Sharks were in Calgary and the Oilers hosted Anaheim on Wednesday. Wins by both San Jose and Edmonton would knock Chicago out of playoff contention. The Blackhawks haven't missed the NHL postseason since 1969.
Chicago and San Jose have two games remaining in the regular season while Edmonton has one.
The Maple Leafs, who will miss the playoffs, have been spoilers in their last two games, beating Carolina on Saturday to put the Hurricanes out of the running and now dealing Chicago's hopes a possibly fatal blow.
Maple Leafs goaltender Felix Potvin was the difference Wednesday, stopping 34 shots.
Mats Sundin gave Toronto a 3-1 lead at 14:19 of the second period. Alexei Zhamnov pulled the Blackhawks within one goal with 1:09 remaining in the game.
Derek King scored his 12th of the season at 2:14 of the second period and assisted on Sergei Berezin's power-play goal at 9:12.
Chicago's Tony Amonte gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead 2:15 into the first period.
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Cam Russell was taken to a hospital with a suspected concussion after he was knocked unconscious during a first-period fight with Toronto's Tie Domi.
The Blackhawks later said Russell was fine and would join the team for the trip back to Chicago.
Russell lost his helmet during the fight and hit the back of his head on the ice when Domi threw him down.
Domi was given a minor, major and a misconduct which pushed him past Toronto's single-season record of 351 penalty minutes set by Dave (Tiger) Williams in 1977-78.
The altercation touched off another fight between Toronto's Kris King and Chicago's Reid Simpson later in the period. When Domi returned to the ice, he fought with Chicago's Bob Probert.
Saturday April 11, 1998 Carolina at Toronto
Score: Toronto 5 Carolina 1
TORONTO (AP) -- The Toronto Maple Leafs scored a season-high four goals in one period in a 5-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.
Derek King scored two goals and Mats Sundin and rookie Mike Johnson added one each in the second period for the Leafs, who have already been eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race.
Mathieu Schneider added an empty-net, shorthanded goal at 17:37 of the third period.
Glen Wesley scored for the Hurricanes, who saw their playoff hopes hurt despite losing for just the third time in their last 10 games. Carolina trails Ottawa, which tied Buffalo 4-4 Saturday, by three points in the race for the eighth and final Eastern Conference berth with four games remaining. Carolina has not made the playoffs since 1991-92 when the franchise was in Hartford.
Felix Potvin made 26 saves for Toronto, which outshot Carolina 14-6 in the second period and 35-27 overall.
After a scoreless first period, Johnson scored his 15th goal of the season with Carolina's Adam Burt on his back, tucking the puck in on goaltender Trevor Kidd's stick side at 11:05.
King scored at 13:46 with a low, stick-side shot on Kidd. Glen Wesley replied on a power play 79 seconds later when he knocked in a rebound of Potvin's save of a shot by Sami Kapanen.
Sundin scored from the slot on a power play at 16:38, and King gave the Leafs a 4-1 lead with his 19th of the season at 18:23.
An apparent goal by Carolina's Paul Ranheim in the third period was disallowed by referee Terry Gregson because he had blown the whistle to give Kevin Dineen a penalty.
Thursday April 9, 1998 Toronto at Carolina
Score: Carolina 5 Toronto 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) -- Carolina's Gary Roberts was once again nursing some undisclosed injury before Thursday night's crucial game with Toronto. And as usual, the former 50-goal scorer made another comeback. Seems to be the story of his career the past few years.
"Every time we don't think he's going to play he gets a start, so we're going to beat him up in the parking lot prior to the game," Carolina coach Paul Maurice said after watching Roberts score his 11th career hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs.
"That was a little glimpse for the people who didn't get to see Gary Roberts in his prime -- his grit, his character," Maurice said.
In addition to Roberts' three goals, Trevor Kidd was sharp in goal again, stopping 30 of 32 shots, as the surging Hurricanes eliminated the Maple Leafs from playoff contention.
Carolina, 7-2-1 in its last 10 games, remained two points behind Ottawa with five regular-season games left in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Senators beat Pittsburgh 4-1 Thursday night.
The Maple Leafs will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season, only the third time that has happened in the past 40 years.
Coming off a 3-1 road trip but playing its fourth game in six days, Carolina came out sluggish in a scoreless first period, recording a mere five shots.
"We were really dragging. We didn't have much in the tank," Maurice said. "We ran four lines as much as we could. We really, really struggled through that game but that's a great sign."
The Hurricanes got the spark they needed from Roberts and Ray Sheppard midway through a three-goal second period, with each scoring his 18th goal of the season in just over a minute.
Martin Gelinas broke in two-on-one with Sheppard after a Toronto giveaway, feeding Sheppard in front of Glenn Healy for the easy goal -- Sheppard's fourth in seven games since being acquired by the Hurricanes on March 24 from Florida.
Another Toronto miscue led to Carolina's second goal. Roberts tipped an attempted clearing pass to Sami Kapanen, who gave it right back to a wide open Roberts in the slot.
Paul Ranheim added a third Carolina goal late in the period when he broke free at center ice after exiting the penalty box and slipped the puck between Healy's legs. Ranheim's fifth goal of the season broke his 25-game scoreless streak, dating to Jan. 24 against Montreal.
"When the game was on the line at 0-0 we made three critical mistakes," Toronto coach Mike Murphy said. "It seems to me that we have done it an awful lot this year."
Kidd, starting his 16th straight game, lost a potential fourth shutout in five games early in the third period when Carolina's Robert Kron accidentally tipped the puck past his goalie while trying to clear it. Lonny Bohonos was credited with the goal, his fifth of the season.
Roberts added his second of the night 29 seconds later to increase the Carolina margin back to three.
Toronto's Alyn McCauley's scored his sixth goal of the season with 8:34 remaining to narrow the gap, but Roberts closed out the scoring on an empty-netter with 26.5 seconds left in the game.
The three goals gave Roberts 20 this season -- the eighth 20-goal season of his career.
"I never thought I would be real excited about 20 goals but nowadays 20 goals in the National Hockey League is tough to accomplish," Roberts said.
The teams met for the first time with only 10 days left in the season. They close out the two-game series Saturday in Toronto.
Tuesday April 7, 1998 Toronto at Florida
Score: Toronto 3 Florida 1
MIAMI (AP) _ Mats Sundin scored his 31st goal as the Toronto Maple Leafs kept their slim post-season hopes alive with a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.
The victory, only the third in the last 12 games for the Maple Leafs, kept Toronto within reach of a playoff spot. The Maple Leafs are nine points behind in the battle for the final position in the Western Conference with five games remaining.
Sundin continued his hot pace, scoring his second goal in as many nights. Sundin, who leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 69 points, has three goals and seven points in his last six games.
Florida lost for only the second time in its last seven games. The Panthers were coming off back-to-back weekend wins against Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Florida finished the season with just two wins against teams from the Western Conference.
The Maple Leafs led 1-0 on Sundin's goal at 3:05 of the first period. Sundin worked the puck from behind the net and sent a shot that bounced off the skate of Panthers defensemen Gord Murphy for the game's first goal.
The Maple Leafs led 2-0 in the second on a redirected goal by Igor Korolev, who tipped in a blast by Derek King from the top of the left circle.
The Panthers pulled within 2-1 on Ray Whitney's blast from the blue line at 8:12 of the second.
Toronto led 3-1 with 2:13 left in the second on Mike Johnson's goal. Johnson picked up a loose puck at the red line and moved in on Panthers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. Johnson's shot kicked in off the left post.
Monday April 6, 1998 Toronto at Dallas
Score: Dallas 4 Toronto 2
Joe Nieuwendyk scored twice and Ed Belfour made 32 saves as the Dallas
avoided their first four-game losing streak in over two years with a 4-2 victory
over the floundering Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jamie Wright and Mike Keane also scored goals and Benoit Hogue returned
after missing 13 games with facial fractures to record two assists for the Stars,
who last lost four in a row from March 11th-17th, 1996.
With the win, the Stars moved past the Detroit Red Wings into sole possession
of first place in the Central Division and the Western Conference. Dallas also
trails New Jersey by two points in the race for the President's Trophy.
Lonny Bohonos and Mats Sundin scored for the Maple Leafs, who have
dropped four in a row for the second time this season. "I was very happy with our effort tonight," Toronto coach Mike Murphy said. "We played a committed game and maybe with
better luck, we would have gotten out of this building with one point or maybe two."
The Stars trailed, 1-0, before Nieuwendyk knotted the score midway through the second period. Just six seconds after Darby
Hendrickson was called for interference, Hogue took a pass from Darryl Sydor and fed Nieuwendyk, who tapped in the
cross-crease pass for his 34th goal.
Wright doubled the advantage with his fourth goal at 13:23 and Nieuwendyk made it a 3-1 game 77 seconds later when he
took a pass from Jere Lehtinen and fired a wrister from the left circle that beat Felix Potvin on the short side.
Nieuwendyk reached the 35-goal plateau for the seventh time in his 12-year career.
Sundin's power-play goal, his 30th, made it a 3-2 game early in the third period. Sylvain Cote unleashed a drive from the left
point that Sundin deflected over Belfour's left shoulder. Sundin has scored 30 goals in six of his eight NHL seasons.
Keane, who was acquired from the New York Rangers at the trading deadline, capped the scoring at 5:07 of the third for his
first goal in a Dallas uniform.
Belfour, who hadn't played since a win over New Jersey on March 29th, made 16 saves in the third period but was never
really tested en route to his 32nd win.
"When they made it 3-2, I got nervous, but with Eddie between the pipes, if he gets a sniff, he is going to make the save," Stars
coach Ken Hitchcok said. "Eddie made five stops in the first period during which I thought our team was very nervous. He
kept us in there early, settled the team down and we got it together from there."
Dallas won the season series, 4-2.
Saturday April 4, 1998 St.Louis at Toronto
Score: San Jose 5 Toronto 3
TORONTO (AP) _ Jeff Friesen scored a pair of goals to lead the San Jose
Sharks to a 5-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The Sharks pulled into a tie with idle Edmonton for the eighth and final playoff
spot in the Western Conference. Both teams have six regular-season games
remaining.
Toronto is nine points behind the Sharks and Oilers with seven games remaining.
John MacLean, Murray Craven and Bernie Nicholls also scored for the Sharks,
who finished a six-game road trip at 4-1-1.
Lonny Bohonos, Fredrik Modin and Wendel Clark scored for the Maple Leafs,
who have lost three straight.
The scored was tied 3-3 in the third period when Toronto goaltender Glenn
Healy got tangled up with Sharks forward Mike Ricci while trying to clear the
puck. Ricci passed to Friesen in front for the go-ahead goal, his 30th of the
season.
Nicholls scored his first goal since Feb. 2 later in the period to put the game
away.
Clark had tied the game 3-3 with his 12th of the season, going high on Sharks
goalie Mike Vernon on a power play.
Toronto's porous defense allowed two goals late in the first period to give San
Jose a 3-2 lead. Friesen tied the game 2-2 by breaking in on the left wing to
beat Healy. Craven put the Sharks ahead by scoring from in front with one
second remaining in the period.
Bohonos opened the scoring with his first goal in a Maple Leafs uniform at 6:04
of the first period. He was called up from St. John's of the American Hockey
League on Thursday.
Wednesday April 1, 1998 St.Louis at Toronto
Score: St.Louis 6 Toronto 4
TORONTO (AP) -- The St. Louis Blues had all kinds of luck on their power
play, the Toronto Maple Leafs no luck at all.
The result was a 6-4 victory for the Blues on Wednesday night.
The Blues were 3-for-4 with the man advantage and took a 3-1 lead with two
power-play goals in the first period. Geoff Courtnall and Terry Yake each had a
goal and an assist for the Blues, who have clinched a playoff berth.
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had two apparent goals disallowed.
Officials ruled that Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin was in the crease when
Derek King's shot got past Blues backup Jamie McLennan late in the first
period.
The goal would have put Toronto within one goal.
"That crease rule helped us tonight, that's for sure," said Blues captain Chris
Pronger.
But St. Louis also scored on its first three power-play chances while Toronto
was 1-for-6.
"It (the power play) certainly needed to get going. It's been a little lackluster the
last couple of games," said Pronger, who had an assist. "We just got the puck
towards the net and made sure we got bodies in front."
Scott Pellerin, Pierre Turgeon, Jim Campbell and Todd Gill also scored for the
Blues. King, Sylvain Cote, Wendel Clark and Daniil Markov scored for
Toronto. Rookie Mike Johnson had two assists.
Mathieu Schneider's shot from the point, when the Maple Leafs were a man
down, would have tied the game 4-4 late in the second period. Officials ruled
the puck hit the high stick of Fredrik Modin on the way in.
Maple Leafs coach Mike Murphy accepted the second disallowed goal, but
questioned the first.
"I thought it was a good goal and so did the players on the ice," Murphy said.
"I think (the officials) assumed that King's shot went in the net and that Sundin, at
that point, was in the crease. But if the puck hit the crossbar and bounced down
and Sundin put it in, then it's a good goal because he went into the crease to get
the puck."
Toronto continued to lose ground in the Western Conference playoff race. They
began the night trailing Edmonton for the final playoff spot by seven points.
St. Louis moved nine points ahead of the fifth-place Los Angeles Kings, who
lost 4-0 in Buffalo.
Murphy hasn't given up hope on the Maple Leafs' post-season.
"We still have a chance. We have eight games remaining. We're going to have to
play a lot better than we did tonight," he said. "It's obviously a tough loss for us."
King scored first for Toronto, 14 seconds into regulation, but Pellerin quieted the
crowd of 15,705 at Maple Leaf Gardens when he scored 1:18 later.
Toronto then played catch-up for the rest of the game, coming within one goal
twice in the second period.
St. Louis pulled away in the third on goals by Yake and Gill. Markov scored his
first NHL goal in the final minute.
King did not blame the two diallowed goals for the Maple Leafs' loss.
"Five-on-five I thought we played with them. Their power play clicked and
again, our power play hurt us," he said.
McLennan made 20 saves. Felix Potvin stopped 24 shots.